Report by Ruby Hendey

Students from The Island VI Form attended the IW Story Festival which took place during half term from the 15 – 17 February at Quay Arts. It was a brilliant few days packed full with inspiring authors and storytellers, amongst those being the famous author of ‘Horrid Henry’ Francesca Simon, stand-up comedian and author Alasdair Beckett-King and the Great Great Grandson of Charles Dickens, Gerald Dickens, who read out the winning stories of the Island wide Year Five story competition. The Festival also featured local talent, with the Island’s Kieran Larwood, and Southampton-based Nazneen Ahmed Pathak.

Each student was allocated a particular performance to watch and to write a review of, some even getting the opportunity to interview the performer afterwards in the green room. Year 13 student, Jake Curran was on the committee for the Festival and helped out in organising the event.

The VI Form student reporter team included Cerys Briscoe, Ellie Chambers, Summer Donovan, Jess Freeston, Ruby Hendey, Rhianna Honey, Willow Samuel, Lilly Summer, and Emily Williams.

Thank you to student photographers Taylor Knight and Makenzi Holder for the images below of Francesca Simon, author of the Horrid Henry series and James Knight, BAFTA nominated film maker.